Covina officer probed over arrest of man filming police activity

William David Robin, 23, of Pomona, is about to be taken down by Covina police Officer Ken Counts on June 30, 2014, in a video that Robin himself filmed. Robin was filming the scene of a reported domestic dispute call on East Tudor Street when the incident occurred. (Video image via YouTube)

A Covina police officer who arrested a Pomona man filming a reported domestic dispute call and then detaining him for six hours is under administrative investigation by his superiors.

In a YouTube video released Tuesday under the user name Damon Enz, a man later identified as William David Robin, 23, of Pomona, captured his arrest by Officer Ken Counts on June 30 in the 1900 block of E. Tudor St.

Robin alleges he was slammed face-first into a police cruiser after his camera shut off and that the tight handcuffs bruised his wrists. He has not filed a claim against the city or even spoken to a lawyer, but he indicated he intends to sue the department for his treatment.

“At first, it was just (to) show people straight up that they can film the police and not be scared of them,” Robin said. “(Counts) made the whole video, he was the star. He made himself look bad, I was just relaying the message.

“All I can think of now is getting paid,” he added. “My wrist needs a nice $800-900 watch because of those cuffs.”

Robin was arrested for obstructing police business and providing false identification, but the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute him when police forwarded the charges, according to Sgt. Rob Bobkiewicz. Robin was released at 12:15 a.m. on July 1, roughly six hours after his arrest the previous evening, according to a booking document.

“The Covina Police Department expects our officers to hold themselves to the highest standards of conduct,” Police Chief Kim Raney said in a statement released Wednesday. “While state law prohibits us from discussing specific personnel matters, suffice it to say we have a track record of disciplining officers up to and including termination when they are found to violate our policies.”

Raney declined to comment on the specifics of the administrative investigation of Counts, but he noted that the officer underwent training about a citizen’s right to film in public spaces multiple times before and after the incident. Counts remains on duty.

Robin, who was in the neighborhood with his mother to return a moving truck, said he was required to pay his landlord for an extra day when he did not finish moving out because of the arrest.

In the video, Robin crosses the street toward officers while using an expletive about police and films a smashed window on a street-parked car before an officer identified as Counts by his name tag walks over to him and asks for his identification. The officer accuses Robin, who is on the sidewalk, of “video taping private cars” and asks if he is involved in their investigation into a report of domestic violence.

“When he comes up me, his intent was to harm me — an unarmed man,” Robin said. “He had his hand on his service weapon, ready to shoot.”

Robin provides the name “David” and offers to give his license number, but he refuses to give the officer his last name. During a patdown, Robin’s camera is knocked to the ground, but it continues to record audio from their interaction.

Robin is heard getting handcuffed and Counts tells him to sit on the ground. When he refuses, Counts can be heard saying “If you don’t sit down, I will sit you down.” In the video, Counts acknowledges Robin’s right to film, but tells him he is “too late” when Robin tries to identify himself after being placed under arrest.

Robin said Counts tried to get him to admit to being involved in the domestic incident after he was placed in the police car.

As of Friday, the video had more than 5,000 views.

“I’m going to sue the (expletive) out of these (expletives), I’m going to get so much money,” Robin said.

Civil Liberties attorney Paul L. Hoffman said courts have increasingly sided with people filming police and that the First Amendment gives a person the right to do so, as long as they don’t affect the police department’s investigation.

“If you stand too close, or you get in the way with what police are doing, that’s not permissible,” Hoffman said. “If you’re out of the police’s way and filming what they do, you have the right to do it.”

An officer needs to have “reasonable belief” that a person committed a crime to conduct a patdown or to detain someone.

“Police officers don’t like being filmed and when people are filming then sometimes police officers will violate people’s rights by engaging in phony pat downs and phony detainments,” he said.